Chapter 12 – Ling Zhi or Poison Ivy?

How long did it take two guys to make their way down a thousand plus high mountain? Half an hour for Ting Wei and fifteen minutes for CJ. Why? Roger kept fidgeting with his rope, causing Ting Wei to halt in mid-climb to make sure everything was still safe. CJ and I definitely made a better team and would have won if we were actually going for some type of prize. Actually, the guys did not need to go all the way down, it was only halfway. They would see a cave somewhere during the climb and then they should see some type of plant that looked like a mushroom. That was supposed to be the “ling zhi” or so Xiao Bai said.
None of us cared to wonder why he would know it was there when it was so far down. Not to mention, if he would be able to see it, wouldn’t he be able to get it already? That didn’t make sense. I turned to look at Xiao Bai briefly – like I casually would in the last half an hour. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so rash and listened to CJ ages ago. Maybe Xiao Bai was putting us on after all. Too late now. We just have to go through with it.
About ten more minutes went by before anyone of us spoke up. Actually, it was Ting Wei who spoke up from below. Correction, more like yelling up to us.
“Did you find it?!” Xiao Bai asked, edging closer to the cliff.
“Not yet!” Ting Wei yelled back. “I just want to ask if we’re actually going in the right direction.”
I rolled my eyes, noticing how lame his question was.
“Of course!” Xiao Bai answered.
“Hey!” CJ’s voice echoed up to us.
“What?!?” I asked in alarmed.
“I think I can feel it! The cave’s just below me now!”
“Careful! Don’t lose your footing!”
“I know!”
Just as expected, about two minutes later, CJ yelled up to us again, saying that he had found the cave. He stopped and rested for a bit while directing Ting Wei toward the cave at the same time. I could feel the rope losing pressure as he settled down somewhere to rest. Maybe he managed to sit on the edge of the cave? I wonder how wide the cave was. Then I remembered something.
“Watch out for unwanted visitors!” I yelled down to him.
“What?!” CJ hollered back.
“Snakes!”
“Don’t worry! I have a 20/20 vision!”
Xiao Bai turned to look at me, not knowing what the pun meant. Although CJ was speaking in Chinese, but he forgot about the modern slang.
“Inside joke,” I said real fast.
“Oh,” Xiao Bai said, still confused but didn’t want to ask further.
At that same moment, I heard Roger breathing out in relief. I turned to look at him. He was loosening his grip on the rope. Ting Wei must be sitting at the cave’s mouth and catching his breath right now – like CJ. If not, I would personally lunged at Roger and strangled him to death for letting go.
One more minute went by before we heard the guys yelling from below again.
“Do we have to go inside the cave?!” CJ’s voice hollered.
“No!” Xiao Bai yelled, cupping his mouth to transmit the sound better. “It should be to the sides. Check carefully around you.”
“Great,” CJ muttered.
Although he was muttering, but somehow the word traveled up to us anyway. How come? Coincidentally, the wind blew by at that time. So I guessed it carried the sounds upward too.
“You found it?!” I yelled after a full minute of not hearing or feeling anything.
“Stop nagging,” CJ muttered, sounding somewhat irritated.
“I’m just concerned, okay?” I snapped back.
“Just don’t let go,” He said, half-teasing and half-serious.Like I would, I thought.
We waited patiently for ten minutes before anyone of the guys from below would spoke up again.
“I found it!” CJ yelled out excitedly.Great, I thought. It took you awhile. But we won! No…wait, what was I talking about? We were just trying to accomplish this task, not engage in some sort of competition.
“Really?” I heard Xiao Bai asked behind me.
“No, it’s a joke,” CJ replied sarcastically.
“Huh?” Xiao Bai said. “I thought you said…”
“He’s putting you on,” I said finally. “He got it.”
“I’m going to hand it to Ting Wei though!” CJ yelled up, breaking through the silence again.
Why him? Finders keepers, right? What was I up to again? We were not in a competition. I needed to focus on getting CJ up safe and sound again so we could go home.
“Ready?!” Ting Wei yelled up to Roger.
“Yeah,” Roger said.
He sounded not-so-ready to me, but I wouldn’t want to argue with him right now.
“Shao Han!” CJ called up to me.
“I’m ready,” I replied.
“Okay.”
The climb up was a bit faster than I thought possible. Somehow, Roger’s energy seemed to step up a few notches as he pulled Ting Wei back up. I concentrated on pulling the rope back up since CJ was making his way up faster by the second. He was probably relief and eager at the same time. Eager to try out the medallion when we got out of here.
We worked in silence for the next several minutes, concentrating hard to finish this task. When we could see the guys again – just a few more feet from us, Ting Wei suddenly swayed sideways. Roger yanked on the rope really hard in alarm. I watched carefully, trying to steady the rope in my hands also.
“CJ, what’s wrong?” I managed, panicking.
“Don’t pull!” Ting Wei yelled out to Roger. “Steady it!”
Ting Wei and yelling didn’t go together. What was going on here?
“CJ!” I yelled out again.
“Snake!” CJ finally yelled out.
I would have said “I told you so” to CJ if I wasn’t so scared.
“Roger, keep it steady,” I said turning to Roger, not caring that I had called him and CJ by their English names seconds ago.
“Watch out!” CJ screeched seconds later.
I almost dropped the rope but I managed to regain myself in time to keep a strong grip on it.
“What’s going on down there?” Xiao Bai finally asked.
I wondered the same thing. But what I was wondering was why hadn’t Xiao Bai spoke up before? Jing Jing had advanced to Roger’s side and was helping him with Ting Wei’s rope right now. The rope seemed to be coming down toward Ting Wei more than up toward us.
“We’re trying to dodge from the snake here,” CJ answered finally after a few more nerve-wrecking seconds went by.
“Are you guys succeeding at all?” Roger asked, his energy somewhat drained.
He had Jing Jing to help him, what was he whining about anyway?
About two more minutes went by before the guys were being pulled up again. It seemed like the snake fell over already or it decided to leave them alone. Either way, I was glad they were not hurt – yet. When they were even closer to us, Jing Jing finally let Roger took over at the rope on his own while she took a step back, but still crouching on her knees to watch us.
“Finally,” CJ uttered out with relief as he was steadying himself and was ready to jump up to where we were at.
Just as I was about to reach my hand out to grab hold of his hand, I could see that Ting Wei was losing footing again on one of the rocks. He dangled loosely and tried to steady himself again. Just as he was turning in mid-air, trying to grab a hold of a piece of rock again, I could see a shining object glistening in the sun. It just glided out of his shirt. I couldn’t think. I jumped out after thrusting CJ’s rope into Jing Jing’s hands. I caught it in time before it joined the rest of the dust and whatever else that had a less fortunate fate. Two things happened about the same time after I jumped out to catch it. Both of them have to do with yelling – CJ and Ting Wei yelling at me and CJ yelling at Jing Jing. How come?
Actually, what happened was when I realized or had a gut feeling it was the medallion falling out of Ting Wei’s pocket, I could not just let it be. We’d been through so much. I had to risk it. After giving Jing Jing the rope, I lunged out with all my energy to grab it. At that same time, CJ and Ting Wei yelled out my name in alarm. CJ also managed to catch me in time as I dived toward him. Why was CJ yelling at Jing Jing? He was afraid that she would let go.
I finally regained myself again and looked at the cliff below. It looked quite scary. I gripped the medallion tightly in my hand and closed my eyes at that moment, leaning into CJ’s shoulder for support. I knew I didn’t want to have my fear be the reason that I would let go of the medallion. It would be too ironic that I was the one who let go when I tried to dive out and save it in the first place.
“Shi Jing Jing,” CJ repeated again. “Don’t you let go.”
“What are you talking about?!” Jing Jing managed to yell out.
From her voice, I also knew that she was getting tired too.
“Shao Han, you all right?” Ting Wei asked to my left.
I nodded, but only briefly, not wanting to talk or I would lose it and cause more burden for Jing Jing.
“Pull me up first!” Ting Wei yelled.
Then I heard some rope moving against rock or whatever else that was rustling around me.
“Angela,” CJ whispered next to me. “It’s all right.”
I managed to nod into him as we waited patiently for Ting Wei to arrive at the top.
“Okay, give me the rope,” Ting Wei said several minutes later. “Let go, Jing Jing. Xiao Bai and I got it.”
Seconds later, I felt some moments on the rope. CJ managed to remove one hand he had around me and moved with his feet. I gripped tighter onto the medallion and turned my face upward before using my feet to climb up also, trying to lessen the burden I entrusted on CJ. We made it up without any other mishaps. It was when I finally touched solid ground that my heartbeat seemed to steady again. I let out a deep breath before loosening my grip on the rope. CJ had let go of me since we were safe again. The others were gathering around me right now since I could see their shadows.
“You all right?” Xiao Bai finally asked after a full minute of silence.
I looked up at the faces around me again. I could see the worried expression on all their faces, including Roger’s. I finally nodded. The others exhaled a sigh of relief. I tried to get up from my kneeling position, but my feet seemed to fail me. Both CJ and Ting Wei advanced forward to grab hold of my shoulders and steady me. CJ let go first, seeing Ting Wei got it. I half-expected him to say something like “I’m her brother, let me”, but he didn’t. He just took a step back and waited patiently to see how I reacted. Before I could react though, Ting Wei pulled me into his arms and hugged me tightly.
“It’s all right,” He said soothingly.
For some reason, I couldn’t resist. Or maybe I didn’t want to resist. Or because I was too traumatized. Whatever it was, I let him hold me and sooth me like a frightened little kid at that moment. Or was it because it felt so good to have him hold me in his arms? Feeling so safe and worriless.